People are increasingly utilizing portable electronic devices to perform a wide variety of tasks. While the small size and light weight of these devices provide various advantages, these aspects come with certain limitations as well. For example, the size of a display screen on many of these devices is relatively small, less than four inches diagonally in many instances, such that it can be difficult to precisely select items displayed on a touch screen. When attempting to type on a touch screen, for example, the relative size of the human finger to the touch screen makes it difficult for certain users to accurately provide text input, as it is difficult to accurately select all the individual letters or other virtual keys needed for the input. Certain motion- or pattern-based approaches to providing text input are being used as well, such as Swype® input available from Nuance Communications, Inc. In many cases, however, it still can be difficult to accurately provide the necessary input on the device for these motions. Further, such input techniques typically require contact with the touch screen, which can be inconvenient for the user in certain situations and can lead to dirt and oil on the touch screen, among other such issues. Further still, certain users would like to be able to use these motion-based inputs with electronic devices, portable or otherwise, that may not have touch screens or similar elements. Larger electronic devices, such as televisions and other such display mechanisms, suffer from at least some of the same types of problems.